Strange, I have never not been picked up by a taxi! I smile and wave one down, they stop and are almost always pretty happy to take a foreigner. My Chinese isn't excellent but I can usually make it known where I want to go and they are happy and usually try to make a little conversation in Chinese. I also tip them because I hear they sometimes don't pick up foreigners so this is a little bit of encouragement!
The rage! The sarcasm! The scathing attitude to all that is Kunming! Even the foreigners that come here are subjected to the rage!
Its just so entertaining! More, more, more! Though you may need some more material.
Subjects I believe not yet covered by BillDan:
People saying "Hello!" to you after you have passed them. If you acknowledge them, they giggle hysterically. People (especially old people) saying "Wai guo ren!" or "Lao wai!" or something similar when they see you. I consider the above two cute but I would love to hear your opinion on them BillDan.
Please, oh please, tell us about your cat and the "veterinarian" you went to. That will be awesome.
You have talked about the food in all of Kunming being terrible, but nothing about the service. I mean come on, any self respecting rage filled cynic MUST be able to create at least 1 tirade on the service!
Anyone think of anything else BillDan can rage at?
You mean Wal Marts? There are quite a few around in KM, 3 or 4 that I know of.
That was awesome!
Bill, I have switched to eating tuna sandwiches... 24 kuai for 2 cans of tuna in sunflower oil from Metro (4 meals for me)... very good Irish cheese - 28 kuai from metro (about 6 meals for me), tomatoes/lettuce/cucumber from any market, bread from Metro is passable and doesn't cost the earth. All up about 15 kuai a sandwich, very hao chi and very healthy! Man, are you stuck in your ways you HAVE to have ham! Bacon must be at least a worthy replacement? The fact you lasted so many years in Kunming is a testament to your fortitude!
Kunming isn't an international city by any standards, lets all admit that. Its got bits and pieces of internationality here and there, but most of us love it because its a bit "rural" in so many regards. Where else do parents hold their kids in a squat position for them to shit all over the footpath? You wouldn't find that behaviour in any city considered international, therefore you also should not expect to find ham!
As for the local cuisine, its quite good if you like spicy stuff, which is what I personally looove. Gutter oil is a little overblown and probably used by a minority of restaurants. The local food is loved by the locals. Kunming doesn't have a big enough international community or local interest in international foods to make it profitable for supermarkets to stock western perishables like ham or provide the expertise on how to store and serve it so you probably can't blame them. In the future, this will probably change, so lets enjoy rurality (?) while we can!
Bill, I think we should start a fund for you to buy you a return ticket for 2 weeks to mei guo! How about that everyone a "Bills Great American Fix" charity?
Wow, Bill is jaaaaaaded!
Bill, if you want some ham, I recommend going to Metro, buying some bacon frying it and using that instead. Or some of the local salami type stuff which is really tasty. Sometimes we have to deal with not having exactly what we want here, but substitutes aren't usually hard to find. That is what happens when you are in a foreign country. If I try to find Yunnan food in my country, its pretty difficult (and I have looked).
The stinky barbecued tofu here is excellent too mmmm.... actually I like the barbecue places where you can cook lots of different things yourself, tofu, vegetables etc. There are some pretty good hotpot places around too, I particularly enjoy some of the frog ones (weird, but really tasty!).
Check out the bugs that they eat here too, haven't tried them yet but apparently very hao chi!
No results found.
So fast, so convenient. One star off for opening before the train station stop is connected!
Wow, just wow. Possibly the best Chinese food I have had in Kunming. And in one of the nicest, traditional courtyard style restaurant I have been in. A woman dressed in traditional qi pao playing a gu zheng just adds to it.
We had okra, mushroom soup, dried beef and chou dofu. All top notch with the bill coming in at just over 250 kuai. But we could have fed 3 people for that so not too bad at about 80-90 kuai each. Not the cheapest but for the quality, it's damn good.
If you have people visiting and want to take them to a traditional Chinese style restaurant with Yunnan style food, or want a romantic night out with a gal, you can't go wrong here. Close to Green Lake (down a little alley) for a romantic walk... Just perfect.
Pretty good place for getting all your documents translated and/or notarised. Note that there are a number of notaries in the building which you can find by going up the stairs (the elevators are impossible). But you have to find the stairs to do so... go in the door, head over to the right, go up the big wide stairs which head up a floor, turn right then right again into the elevator area and right again into the stairwells. Whew!
One point off for the elevators never being available and having to hike 7-9 flights of stairs (not good if you have to go 3-4 times a day like I often did!)
This does not stop at the Jinanya hotel at Da Shang Hui as the flyers state (and is on the images tab here). They need to have another stop in the same area or else they are missing out on covering a big chunk of the city.
You can take another bus, the 919C, I believe, if you are nearby Da Shang Hui, which leaves from the bus station on HeHong Lu, nearby the Qianxing road intersection. This bus goes every hour and is white, found at the western end of the station. It is operated by a different company and takes about 1 hour 10 minutes to get to the airport due to a large number of stops especially near the airport.
Great bus though if you can catch it!
Friendly people, even got to the talk to the vice consulate, who told me she had done a stint in Malaysia's Siberian Consulate!
English is spoken by some of the Chinese girls working at the desk who are pleasant to deal with. I assume they do Visa's as well but I wasn't here for a visa, this time!
Laos extradites drug suspects to Yunnan
Posted byBut to the story - I had no idea that different provinces could implement laws differently! There should be no way for Yunnan to be more lenient than other provinces, that is a severe failure of the Chinese justice system (or the Chinese guanxi based punishment system, whichever you prefer!).
Laos extradites drug suspects to Yunnan
Posted byI have taken drugs before, LSD when I was younger. My friends did also. That was over 15 years ago now and all of us are now fully capable and contributing members of society today. Not one of us had our relationships break down or adverse affects of our drug taking, which occurred 1-3 times for all of us before we all made a pact not to ever do it again after a bad experience.
So we should all be executed HFCAMPO? Or is there a statute of limitations for your new law? Or do you decide how it is implemented? What if you found out your son/daughter was peer pressured into taking a drug. Instant execution? You are OK with that?
Your broad sweeping assumptions "Casual drug users do affect others you just don't know about it." should be the downfall of your argument.
Laos extradites drug suspects to Yunnan
Posted byAlien, there is a clear definition of a troll, look it up. Because others use it here when they should not, is not my problem.
HFCAMPO posted that all drug users should be put to death and he has just said that the statement is not sarcastic. If you do not believe that fits into a category of being "deliberately inflammatory to provoke reaction", I aren't sure what is. He has stated a zero tolerance, capital punishment extremist viewpoint. He then insulted me for telling a simple anecdote, in another attempt to provoke a reaction.
This would be fine if he framed his statements as a matter of opinion. But he has done it with a tone which brooks no argument so that it is not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of fact. You can tell this because he simply insults anyone who disagrees with him, even in the slightest. He then stated that he is an expert on the matter as he willingly joined an army and worked in the area. And this army was controlled by a government which exhorts the exact opposite of the values he purports to uphold. Either he holds two different viewpoints simultaneously or holds one and deliberately posts the other to provoke a response. I am fairly certain it is the latter.
Is it your genuine opinion HFCAMPO that all drug users should be put to death? My anecdote still holds, just replace "smoking a joint" with "popping a tab of acid". Do you believe all young people who are peer pressured into taking LSD, for instance, should be put to death?
Laos extradites drug suspects to Yunnan
Posted byA troll HFCAMPO is someone who posts something on a thread in order to deliberately cause a reaction. Clearly your first 2 posts were exactly that, you somewhat clarified your position in the third post, but not at all clearly, it appears you were being sarcastic?
You have started an inflammatory discussion, appeared to have changed your mind, insulted me for simply adding an anecdote after reading your first posts...
And you still have the temerity to call others trolls?
It appears you get a buzz out of being a troll yourself then pretending you are not. The only one who is laughing is yourself, in your own head, the rest of us are shaking our head in wonderment. I guess the joke is on me for being your troll bait.
Laos extradites drug suspects to Yunnan
Posted byAnd you have the temerity to call others trolls HFCAMPO?